The second largest shareholder of Vimpelcom Ltd will sell its share due to the fall of the capitalization of the operator
The Norwegian telecommunications company Telenor has decided to get rid of its stake in Vimpelcom Ltd. Telenor is one of the largest telecommunications companies in the world. Vimpelcom holding conducts telecommunications business in the CIS countries, Italy and in several countries in Asia and Africa. In Russia, it is also known under the Beeline brand.
“Telenor is not able to fully control the activities of this asset. Therefore, the board of directors and CEO of Telenor have decided to withdraw from Vimpelcom Ltd in the interests of their shareholders and in accordance with the group’s long-term strategy, ”said company representatives. The market value of a share in Vimpelcom is only 8% of the capitalization of Telenor and it is constantly decreasing, they say.
Telenor owns a 33% stake in Vimpelcom and is the company's second largest shareholder. Another 56.2% (47.9% of the votes) of Vimpelcom from LetterOne , owned by Alfa Group owners.
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Telenor has invested 15 billion NOK in Vimpelcom and received 20 billion NOK in dividends. Telenor representatives estimate the market value of their share in Vimpelcom at 20 billion NOK (approximately $ 2.4 billion at the current exchange rate).
In the third quarter, the price per share of Vimpelcom on the stock exchange fell to $ 4.11. The book value at the same time is $ 5.64 per share. But in its calculations, Telenor will be guided by the market value of the asset. According to the results of the third quarter, Telenor's share will depreciate by 7.5 billion Norwegian crowns, its experts believe. However, the company reported that the specific dates of exit from Vimpelcom have not yet been established.
Vimpelcom is 100% owned by Vimpelcom Ltd. holding. In the second quarter, the company had 57.2 million subscribers in Russia. The company has 27,000 employees. Revenue VimpelCom in the II quarter of 2015 decreased by 1% to 68 billion rubles, according to a quarterly statement of the operator. EBITDA decreased by 3.3% to 27.5 million rubles. EBITDA margin decreased from 41.4 a year earlier to 40.5%. The representative of Vimpelcom Ltd, Artem Minaev, told Vedomosti that the company is aware of Telenor’s intentions to sell the holding’s shares.
Telenor became a shareholder in the Russian company Vimpelcom in 1998. The company planned to further increase its stake and get a controlling stake in the operator. However, after a few years, the shares of the Norwegian company switched to Alfa Group. This led to a prolonged shareholder conflict.
In 2009, an international company Vimpelcom Ltd was established with headquarters in Amsterdam. It united the Russian VimpelCom and the Ukrainian Kievstar, which belonged to Telenor and Alfa Group. In 2011, Vimpelcom merged with Wind Telecom , which was owned by Egyptian entrepreneur Naguib Sawiris. Thus, the operator entered the markets of Pakistan and Bangladesh, where it already provided services to Telenor. As a result, Vimpelcom began to compete with its own shareholder.
After the merger, the stakes of major shareholders were eroded, including the voting package of Telenor dropped to 25.1%.
Then Telenor bought 11.35% of Vimpelcom’s voting shares from an Egyptian businessman for $ 374.4 million. As a result, the package of Norwegians returned to the previous level - 36.36% of voting shares. But this transaction was challenged in court by the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Russian Federation (FAS). The fact is that the Norwegians did not coordinate it in advance with the Russian government.
In 2013, the general director and president of Telenor, Jon Fredrik Baksos, in an interview with Vedomosti reminded that until the spring of 2016, the Norwegians still have the right to convert Vimpelcom's preferred shares into ordinary shares, having bought back 305 million shares from the company at market value. This will not change the number of votes due to Telenor, but will increase its share in dividend payments from 33% to 43%. But today Telenor said it was not going to convert the prefs.
“Kommersant” recalls that the reason for leaving Vimpelcom could be a corruption story around the daughter of the President of Uzbekistan Gulnara Karimova. Allegedly, Vimpelcom, the Russian MTS and the Swedish-Finnish TeliaSonera were suspected of giving Karimova bribes. In July, the US Department of Justice received permission from the Southern District of New York court to arrest $ 300 million in accounts of companies associated with the family of Islam Karimov.
Sources of "Kommersant" said that including because of this scandal was forced to retire earlier than scheduled, President Telenor Yun Fredrik Baksos. For the same reason, its long-term members left the supervisory board of Vimpelcom this year: Kjell-Morten Johnsen, executive vice president of operations for Telenor in Europe, and Ole Bjorn Schulstad, who headed the Russian office after him.
“Telenor is not able to fully control the activities of this asset. Therefore, the board of directors and CEO of Telenor have decided to withdraw from Vimpelcom Ltd in the interests of their shareholders and in accordance with the group’s long-term strategy, ”said company representatives. The market value of a share in Vimpelcom is only 8% of the capitalization of Telenor and it is constantly decreasing, they say.
Telenor owns a 33% stake in Vimpelcom and is the company's second largest shareholder. Another 56.2% (47.9% of the votes) of Vimpelcom from LetterOne , owned by Alfa Group owners.
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Telenor has invested 15 billion NOK in Vimpelcom and received 20 billion NOK in dividends. Telenor representatives estimate the market value of their share in Vimpelcom at 20 billion NOK (approximately $ 2.4 billion at the current exchange rate).
In the third quarter, the price per share of Vimpelcom on the stock exchange fell to $ 4.11. The book value at the same time is $ 5.64 per share. But in its calculations, Telenor will be guided by the market value of the asset. According to the results of the third quarter, Telenor's share will depreciate by 7.5 billion Norwegian crowns, its experts believe. However, the company reported that the specific dates of exit from Vimpelcom have not yet been established.
Vimpelcom is 100% owned by Vimpelcom Ltd. holding. In the second quarter, the company had 57.2 million subscribers in Russia. The company has 27,000 employees. Revenue VimpelCom in the II quarter of 2015 decreased by 1% to 68 billion rubles, according to a quarterly statement of the operator. EBITDA decreased by 3.3% to 27.5 million rubles. EBITDA margin decreased from 41.4 a year earlier to 40.5%. The representative of Vimpelcom Ltd, Artem Minaev, told Vedomosti that the company is aware of Telenor’s intentions to sell the holding’s shares.
Telenor became a shareholder in the Russian company Vimpelcom in 1998. The company planned to further increase its stake and get a controlling stake in the operator. However, after a few years, the shares of the Norwegian company switched to Alfa Group. This led to a prolonged shareholder conflict.
In 2009, an international company Vimpelcom Ltd was established with headquarters in Amsterdam. It united the Russian VimpelCom and the Ukrainian Kievstar, which belonged to Telenor and Alfa Group. In 2011, Vimpelcom merged with Wind Telecom , which was owned by Egyptian entrepreneur Naguib Sawiris. Thus, the operator entered the markets of Pakistan and Bangladesh, where it already provided services to Telenor. As a result, Vimpelcom began to compete with its own shareholder.
After the merger, the stakes of major shareholders were eroded, including the voting package of Telenor dropped to 25.1%.
Then Telenor bought 11.35% of Vimpelcom’s voting shares from an Egyptian businessman for $ 374.4 million. As a result, the package of Norwegians returned to the previous level - 36.36% of voting shares. But this transaction was challenged in court by the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Russian Federation (FAS). The fact is that the Norwegians did not coordinate it in advance with the Russian government.
In 2013, the general director and president of Telenor, Jon Fredrik Baksos, in an interview with Vedomosti reminded that until the spring of 2016, the Norwegians still have the right to convert Vimpelcom's preferred shares into ordinary shares, having bought back 305 million shares from the company at market value. This will not change the number of votes due to Telenor, but will increase its share in dividend payments from 33% to 43%. But today Telenor said it was not going to convert the prefs.
“Kommersant” recalls that the reason for leaving Vimpelcom could be a corruption story around the daughter of the President of Uzbekistan Gulnara Karimova. Allegedly, Vimpelcom, the Russian MTS and the Swedish-Finnish TeliaSonera were suspected of giving Karimova bribes. In July, the US Department of Justice received permission from the Southern District of New York court to arrest $ 300 million in accounts of companies associated with the family of Islam Karimov.
Sources of "Kommersant" said that including because of this scandal was forced to retire earlier than scheduled, President Telenor Yun Fredrik Baksos. For the same reason, its long-term members left the supervisory board of Vimpelcom this year: Kjell-Morten Johnsen, executive vice president of operations for Telenor in Europe, and Ole Bjorn Schulstad, who headed the Russian office after him.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/295070/
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